Saturday, January 10, 2009

AVP

AVP is the Three Letter Abbreviation given to the new Aylesbury Vale Parkway station. The station is three miles North West of the centre of Aylesbury and opened on 14th December 2008. The station is served by Chiltern Railways.

I went to AVP today and can report that:
  • It is called Parkway because there is a car park there. Other than that it is a building site with some portacabins and two temporary toilets.
  • Eight people got off the train (it is the end of the line). Three had gone past Aylesbury by mistake and got back on the train. I wandered around a bit and then got back on the train as well. That leaves a man and his three toddlers- he clearly did want to be there because he got in his car and drove away.
  • There was a security man wandering around. He looked pretty bored, but did manage to find a discarded newspaper on the train, so presumably he would then have been less bored.
  • It was very cold - there was still freezing fog hanging around. The Portaloos were closed because the pipes were frozen. Even the sheep in a nearby field were running around to keep warm.
  • The ticket office was closed, the shop/ snack bar was closed, the buses don't currently run there on a Saturday and there are no ticket issuing facilities when the office is closed.

The station will probably be quite useful if you live within it's catchment area (parking is free while the station buildings are being constructed), but don't go there expecting wild excitement.

I'll link to some pictures and more information shortly.

1 comment:

James (UK) said...

"TTT" for "two temporary toilets" would have rolled off the tongue just as well, in my opinion... oh, but I suppose they aren't going to be there forever... ;-)

That man did take the toddlers with him, didn't he?! One wonders now if he went to the end of the line to dump them! I've been spending some time with my Brother's one-year old, and God, how I know that sometimes you want to run away screaming from the little monsters!

You know, I actually feel better for having read your post. I thought Chelmsford was bad... ;-)